Monolithic Digital temperature sensors utilize diodes as the sensing and reference elements in solid-state temperature sensors. The diodes used in these solid-state temperature sensors as part of the sensing and reference circuit have a voltage that is inversely proportional to temperature. However, a second order term that causes this relationship to deviate from the ideal straight line curve introduces an error to the sensor output. This is a significant source of error for the temperature output and limits the accuracy of the sensor.
Most approaches used in solving the problem introduced by the diode voltage curvature have been to implement the compensation in the analog section of the temperature sensor. Another approach used for linearization is to have a lookup table so that different corrections can be made at different points in the transfer curve. But this results in a correction that is not smooth when only a few corrections points are implemented. If more lookup points are added, the amount of circuitry, e.g., lookup table size, needed becomes large.